


Instead

by chicafrom3



Category: Lost
Genre: Chance Meeting, Community: over_look, Gen, Missed Connections, Pre-Canon, Semi-Canonical Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-29
Updated: 2006-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-18 03:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicafrom3/pseuds/chicafrom3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting in Saint Tropez.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Instead

**Author's Note:**

> over_look table/theme name & number: I, 6 - Company

He did not meet her in a bar, or a club, or a concert hall.

He met her in a bookstore, instead, where he was buying an English-to-French dictionary, having discovered that his language skills left something to be desired and that none of the other band members were interested in picking up the slack. He ran into her as he was exiting the store and she was entering; she dropped her bags and he apologized in bad French, stooping to pick them up for her. She answered in bored English, an American accent, and that caught his interest.

He did not buy her coffee, or a soda, or dinner, to make up for it.

He bought her an ice cream instead. "To make up for the fact that you're stuck being a Yank," he explained brightly. "Must be terribly hard on you, luv," and that startled a laugh out of her, which was enough to make him happy.

He did not kiss her, or shag her, or bring her back to the hotel where the band was staying.

He listened, instead, as she talked about her marriage, and how everything about it had gone wrong right from the beginning. He only grinned when she said pointedly that she liked her men pretty, because he knew it was intended as a dig; he was many things, but 'weedy' had been used far more often to describe him than 'pretty'. He bought her another ice cream and asked why she had come to Saint Tropez in the first place.

He did not ask her to leave with them, or ask if he could stay with her, or suggest running off together.

He hugged her goodbye, instead, and didn't ask her to come to their concert that night; suggested she get counseling for her marriage and give her husband another chance. She smirked at him and told him she hated his band, but thought he was a little bit okay. For a guy, for a guitarist, for a Brit. He said goodbye, don't strain a muscle repainting your nails, I hope life goes okay for you, and left for sound check.

He did not grieve for her, or regret not doing more for her, or even remember her fondly, when a few years later he read the name _Shannon Rutherford_ printed in the list of passengers who had gone down with Oceanic Flight 815, because he had never thought to get her name.


End file.
